Shipwrecked (TV series)
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Shipwrecked is a reality television series on Channel 4 in the UK as part of T4. Originally broadcast for three series from 2000 to 2002, the show returned in 2006 with a substantially different format for its fourth series, entitled Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands. Channel 4 are already planning a fifth series of Shipwrecked for 2007.
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[edit] Shipwrecked Series 1
The first series of Shipwrecked took place in 2000, in the early days of the reality television craze. It was presented by Kate Humble. In the series, a group of young British contestants were stranded in the Cook Islands to fend for themselves.
[edit] Shipwrecked Series 2
The second series ran in 2001, and the contestants were again sent to the Cook Islands. Before going to the island, a panel of judges, among them Andi Peters, ran the applicants through a boot camp-style audition process before selecting the final participants. A notable incident occurred when some contestants stole food from the producers tent on the other side of the island, and a group of girls left the main tribe to form their own camp.
[edit] Shipwrecked Series 3
The third series ran in 2002, and the contestants were sent this time to Fiji. As with the first two series, it began with the audition process in England with Andi Peters as one of the hiring judges. One the contestants who was unknown at the time but would later become famous in other reality series was Jeff Brazier. In this version, the cast was more international, with several of the contestants coming from Australia and the United States. As with the first two series, there were no competitions or cash prizes, it was designed purely as a "social experiment'.
[edit] Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands
For full details of each episode, see Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands
Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands was first broadcast in January 2006 and shares little in common with the first series of Shipwrecked, but more in common with Survivor. While the earlier series were more of a Real World-style documentary without prizes or competition, this fourth series divided the competitors into two islands, who would compete for a prize of £70,000. The programme featured two teams, the Sharks and the Tigers, who live on the previously uninhabited Pacific islands of Motoraku and Rapota respectively (both are part of the Cook Islands).
A new contestant arrives every week and spends half the week with one team and half the week with the other before deciding which team he or she would like to stay with. The team with the most members at the end of the show's five month run wins the prize money.
Contestants are free to leave at any time and can also nominate themselves to change teams at the weekly beach party (generally the only time during the week when the Sharks and Tigers meet). If the other team votes to accept them they can then swap islands, if not they have to stay with their original team.
If two or more people put themselves forward for nomination from one island, then the rival island are only permitted to accept one nominee per week. Each island must have a minimum of 5 people at all times - nominations are only allowed if an island has six or more people. Contestants are only allowed two island moves during the series.
During the final week, the islands were level at 14 inhabitants each, leaving the final new arrival Jenni Danns had the hard decision of choosing which island would win and eventually chose Shark Island meaning the Sharks won the £70,000 prize. When it opened to public nominations the Tigers believed that with recently tempting Jo to join. She decided to stay on Shark Island.
The show was very successful, and many would suggest that the 2006 series was the most successful so far, probably surpassing the popularity originally expected from the producers. Many fans have called for a DVD as Shipwrecked was on once a week for 20 weeks on a Sunday afternoon. Much of the footage was edited, and clearly the public did not see everything that went on.
[edit] Shipwrecked on BBC America
In late July of 2006, BBC America premiered the much hyped reality series Shipwrecked on Wednesdays at 9:00 EST. Two months later the show was evicted from the line-up after being moved around the schedule and appearing in broadcast times that did not coincide with TV listings. Fan uproar on the BBC America discussion forum demanded the reasoning behind the jettisoning of the popular show, to which an Administrator posted (after banning users for being critical) that Shipwrecked was macheted because lower then expected ratings. The newest episodes, however, were still made available through the BBC America On Demand option in a small handful of markets. This additional revenue stream for BBC America has critics wondering if they are being held hostage by BBC America and forced to pay additional monies in oder to see the conclusion of the series via this On Demand option.[citation needed]
In late November 2006, BBC America shutdown the hosted Shipwrecked discussion forum because of the volume of outcry and their inability to control the content of the discussion.
BBC America currently has plans to broadcast just over half of the next installment of Shipwrecked in spring 2007. [citation needed]
